Philip Waldron, a retired U.S. Army colonel who circulated a PowerPoint presentation proposing ways Donald Trump could hold onto power after losing the 2020 presidential election, has told the Washington Post that he visited the White House multiple times after the election; spoke with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as many as ten times; and briefed several members of Congress about the presentation the day before a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6 in a violent attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory. As the Post notes, Waldron’s account suggests “that Meadows, who also pressed senior Justice Department leaders to investigate baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud, was more directly in contact with proponents of such theories than was previously known.”

The 38-page PowerPoint, titled “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN,” made many false claims about voter fraud and election irregularities. It also featured recommendations on how to change the election outcome, by having Vice-President Mike Pence reject or replace electors, or by declaring a national security emergency and having National Guard troops and U.S. marshals “secure” and count paper ballots from certain states. The PowerPoint apparently makes similar claims to a 36-page presentation which surfaced publicly last week. A version of the presentation, which Meadows received in an email on January 5, was part of a...

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